Why My Lower Back Hurts?

This is one of the most common questions I get via email and our contact form. Here are some reasons your lower back might be giving you problems. Pain in the lower back region can be an extremely painful experience. It is one of the most common problems faced by many adults today. The lower back pain is associated with a lot of things we do and perform on a daily basis. It usually originates when we put too much strain on the lower back region through lifting weight, sitting in an awkward posture or simply not sleeping the way we are supposed to sleep. Several other factors that we ignore on a daily basis can contribute to lower back pain. Following are some of the most common and often ignored causes of back pain:

Carrying Weight With Hands/Shoulders

One of the most common and ignored causes of back pain is lifting weight on your shoulders for prolonged periods of time. We do not realize but carrying a simple thing like a laptop bag on our shoulder can put strain on the lower back region. The lower back region is responsible for holding your upper body’s weight and any other weight you carry. This is why if you carry something in your hand or over your shoulder, you can easily invite lower back pain.

Job Requirements

Some jobs require you to constantly lift weights as a requirement. If you find yourself lifting heavy things from point A to point B during most of your work hours, you are an easy target of lower back pain. The best way to avoid pain in the lower region is to make sure that whatever you lift, lift it with the help of your legs and not your upper body or hands.

Posture

Another easy target for lower back pain are people who do not maintain a safe posture while working, studying or using a computer. In a recent research, it was revealed that one of the most common muscle pains and back aches are caused by wrong sitting or sleeping postures. If your job requires you to spend most of your working hours in front of a computer, consider taking short breaks after 45 minutes of sitting. With these breaks, make sure you also learn the correct posture of using a computer to avoid lower back pain and numerous other muscle aches that are common in computer users.

Intense Workout Routines

The most logical thinking of today is to exercise to live a healthy and pain free life. What we don’t realize is that working out too much during a single session can cause major injuries in our bodies. One of these injuries can easily cause lower back pain. If you spend a lot of energy at the gym lifting very heavy weights, you need to be careful and maintain correct exercise postures. Most fitness trainers recommend keeping your workouts balanced with a good diet and correct exercise postures. If you are over exerting yourself at the gym in a single session because you do not get the time to go there every day, you should consider balancing your plan.

Being Overweight

Lower back pain usually starts when your lower region is stressed for prolonged sessions. This is why lower back pain is very common in individuals who are overweight. Because your lower region supports most of your body weight, being overweight means consistently putting stress on your lower region. If you are overweight and suffer from back ache, your best solution to a pain free life is to lose that body weight.

Over Sleeping/Resting

Lower back pain is also quite common in individuals who sleep beyond the recommended sleep periods. The pain in the lower region can easily be accelerated if you are not maintaining a correct sleeping posture. This is why experts recommend changing your sleeping mattress and pillows often to make sure your body is in the correct posture when you are sleeping.

Conclusion

Lower back pain is common and can often be quite painful. It is one of the top sick leave reasons in the United States amongst other small common reasons like flu, fever and hay fever. Lower back pain is easy to get but hard to get rid of. The easiest way to stay away from it and live a comfortable life is to prevent it from happening. The above list of common causes provides you with enough reasons to start preventing the pain from happening. If you are already suffering from lower back pain which is beyond your control, consider visiting a doctor for prescribed medication or physical therapy.

I completely understand. I used to set a timer to go offer every 20 minutes and make sure I got up and did a 1-2 minute stretch session. Simple stuff, raise your arms, lean to one side then the other etc… Just get up and move. It does wonders. Sounds simple, but it really is. You can also extend your legs and flex your quad muscles for 5-10 seconds. Try this and let me know how you feel. I think you will be amazed.

Hard to tell, but I would ask myself…. what did I do differently yesterday that could be causing this. Sometimes we forget, but maybe you lifting something at work, or maybe you were shoveling snow. Things that you used to do when you were younger might hurt you more as you get older…

Did this just start? Have you done anything differently? Also what kind of sneakers are you wearing? If you are on your feet all day you will want a great pair of sneakers, not some cheap $20 pair. What happens if you take tylenol or ibuprofen?

Um hello. I am 14 years & have been having really bad lower back pain and i dont know what from. It started at school when i was eating weed brownie! Could it be related to that?? It was really bad that day but started to go away but hasnt gone fully. Any suggestions on making it go, Its starting to effect my school & social life. Please & thankyou <3 Much appreciated

There are so many things, but could be if you are sitting all day long at a desk, or even how you sleep. Too soft a bed. If you sit a lot at work make sure you take a break every 45minutes to an hour for 5 minutes and do some light stretching. It works wonders!

I am only 19, but I woke up one day and my lower back really hurts. It’s almost a stinging feeling. I pressed on the lower back muscles and it didn’t really feel sore, so I don’t think it’s muscle pain. It only hurts when I move in certain positions, such as bending down.
I did not do anything the day before.

My lower back has been killing me for over a month, I wasn’t sure wat caused it but now I think it’s because a lil over a month ago I got my own desk and I’m sitting down for 8 hrs n I don’t really get up and stretch but now that I read ur article ill start doing that n see if it gets better. Thanks!

I play volleyball and I’m back row therefore I am diving a lot and I’m in a squat position for a very long time, I get a lot of back pain only on the right side of my lower back and sometimes it connects to my hamstring